1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of portable illumination systems and more specifically to aircraft landing assistance beacons or lights.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Incandescent lights and other single modality systems have been used for aircraft runway or landing pad illumination. Incandescent systems cause excessive blooming in night vision goggles and may provide unwanted illumination visible to the unaided eye. Incandescent lamps also have fragile filaments that can be easily damaged by vibration.
Single modality systems are inflexible and must be augmented with other types of energy emitting sources such as infrared to work with the systems aviators use for aided vision while landing such as Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR).
Aviators have a need for a single illumination system that can provide them with the ability to choose the modality of illumination remotely to fit their needs based upon their own equipment, capabilities or mission. Also, in situations where established runways or landing pads are not available the illumination system must be portable to construct a temporary landing area.
A portable aircraft landing light is disclosed which combines three different modalities used by pilots to safely land aircraft. The modalities combined are visible light, infrared light and FLIR emission referred to here as a Tri-Spectrum light.
The Tri-Spectrum light provides for the emission of heat that can be readily identified by the use of a FLIR unit. Cold cathode lamps provide the visible light and infrared light. This invention can be configured to meet the needs of military operations or non-military operations. Military operations typically use FLIR settings in a particular range of the spectrum.
The invention can be operated manually or by remote control using a radio frequency receiver which is part of a control board. The invention includes a rechargeable battery which provides power through the control board to the heat emission element. A ballast provides a start up current and power supply needed by the lamps throughout the battery""s voltage operating range.